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2020 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Clisson “La Molette”
Domaine Michel BrégeonFred Lailler’s Clisson is front-loaded with flavor. The 2020 vintage was pretty toasty by Loire standards, with grapes easily reaching full ripeness. Additionally, this vineyard, situated on a sandy granite terroir instead of the region’s usual gabbro and gneiss, gives a rounder expression of the Melon grape. While there is a lot of fruit here, it’s a cool sort of fruit, more apples and pears than the tropical flavors we associate with ripeness in white wines. And it is refreshing, as you’d expect a Muscadet to be. The crisp finish always has you reaching for the next glass.
—Dustin Soiseth
Wine Type: | white |
Vintage: | 2020 |
Bottle Size: | 750mL |
Blend: | Melon de Bourgogne |
Appellation: | Muscadet Sèvre et Maine |
Country: | France |
Region: | Loire |
Producer: | André-Michel Brégeon |
Winemaker: | Fred Lailler |
Vineyard: | 50 years average, 7.8 ha total |
Soil: | Granite |
Farming: | Organic (certified) |
Alcohol: | 12% |
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About The Producer
André-Michel Brégeon
Michel Brégeon is part renegade, part crusader, and full-blown terroirist, ardently defending the Muscadet-Sèvre-et-Maine terroir. Thanks to his deep understanding of the land, he plays the game much differently than the region’s caves cooperatives and negociants, who produce en masse and lose the subtlety of the appellation. He worked for his family’s domaine before setting out on his own in 1975. When his father retired in 1989, he gave his remaining vineyard land to Michel. Today, Michel farms seven hectares of vineyards in clay, silica, and gabbro soils. Gabbro is old, blue-green, volcanic rock, rarely found in vineyard land. Formed by magma eruptions under the ocean floor, it imparts intense complexity to Michel’s wines.
About The Region
Loire
The defining feature of the Loire Valley, not surprisingly, is the Loire River. As the longest river in France, spanning more than 600 miles, this river connects seemingly disparate wine regions. Why else would Sancerre, with its Kimmeridgian limestone terroir be connected to Muscadet, an appellation that is 250 miles away?
Secondary in relevance to the historical, climatic, environmental, and cultural importance of the river are the wines and châteaux of the Jardin de la France. The kings and nobility of France built many hundreds of châteaux in the Loire but wine preceded the arrival of the noblesse and has since out-lived them as well.
Diversity abounds in the Loire. The aforementioned Kimmderidgian limestone of Sancerre is also found in Chablis. Chinon, Bourgueil, and Saumur boast the presence of tuffeau, a type of limestone unique to the Loire that has a yellowish tinge and a chalky texture. Savennières has schist, while Muscadet has volcanic, granite, and serpentinite based soils. In addition to geologic diversity, many, grape varieties are grown there too: Cabernet Franc, Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, and Melon de Bourgogne are most prevalent, but (to name a few) Pinot Gris, Grolleau, Pinot Noir, Pineau d’Aunis, and Folle Blanche are also planted. These myriad of viticultural influences leads to the high quality production of every type of wine: red, white, rosé, sparkling, and dessert.
Like the Rhône and Provence, some of Kermit’s first imports came from the Loire, most notably the wines of Charles Joguet and Château d’Epiré—two producers who are featured in Kermit’s book Adventures on the Wine Route and with whom we still work today.
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1989 Vouvray “Bois Guyon”
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2020 Vouvray “La Dilettante”
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2020 Saumur Champigny “Clos de l’Échelier”
Thierry Germain France | Loire
2022 Coteaux du Loir Blanc
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2022 Saumur Champigny “Cuvée Domaine”
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2019 Chinon “Clos de la Dioterie”
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2021 Bourgueil “Franc de Pied”
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Champalou France | Loire
2020 Vouvray “Pierres Rousses”
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Vintage Chart Mentality
Vintage Chart Mentality
Trust the great winemakers, trust the great vineyards. Your wine merchant might even be trustworthy. In the long run, that vintage strip may be the least important guide to quality on your bottle of wine.—Kermit Lynch